The Ever-Changing Engram: Towards an Integrated Understanding of Long-Term Memory Dynamics
July 17-22, 2016
International Conference on Memory (ICOM6)
Budapest, Hungary

Organizer
Almut Hupbach
Lehigh University, USA

Description
We are witnessing exciting times in memory research -- the traditional view of long-term memory as a stable entity is being replaced by the opposing idea that long-term memory is in fact fundamentally dynamic. In the last decade, basic mechanisms modulating the formation and dynamic restructuring of memory have been identified at multiple levels of analysis. For example, this new direction in research has revealed how cognitive processes such as targeted memory retrieval and intentional memory control interact with neurobiological processes such as sleep and stress signalling to shape long-term memory. The symposium brings together researchers from different institutions across the United States and Europe working at the forefront of this new frontier. The aims of the symposium are to foster communication and to promote an integrated understanding of the dynamics of long-term memory. 

Speakers will discuss the adaptive function of forgetting for emotional health (Simon Nørby), the long-term effects of intentional forgetting (Almut Hupbach), the effects of study and retrieval practice on neural differentiation in the hippocampus (Justin Hulbert), neural mechanisms of retrieval that modify autobiographical memories (Peggy St. Jacques), how stress affects memories for naturalistic events (Lars Schwabe), and how memory formation and updating through reactivation may differ during sleep and wakeful states (Susanne Diekelmann). The symposium presents a rare opportunity to initiate international collaborations among the researchers and their institutions that span across many levels of analysis, with the goal to accelerate research in this exciting new field.

Presentations
Effects of Memory Reactivation During Sleep and Wakefulness: Similar or Different?
Susanne Diekelmann, University of Tübingen, Germany

Facilitation, Inhibition, & Differentiation—Oh My! Interleaved Study & Retrieval Practice Pave the Road to Non-zero-sum Memory Dynamics
Justin Hulbert, Bard College, USA

Long-term Effects of Directed Forgetting: Consolidating the Important
Almut Hupbach, Lehigh University, USA

Putting an Unpleasant Past to Rest: On Forgetting and Emotional Health
Simon Nørby, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Stress-induced Changes in the Formation and Updating of Memories
Lars Schwabe, University of Hamburg, Germany

Neural Mechanisms of Retrieval That Modify Autobiographical Memories
Peggy St. Jacques, University of Sussex, United Kingdom

Discussant
Lynn Nadel, University of Arizona, USA